Chapter 94 - Dominic’s Dock
The note delivered to the center had been created from a dormant account, but the company could not identify who had accessed it. Its login records had expired. The account number, however, belonged to the same office that processed the dock acquisition.
Dominic asked his company’s counsel to review the dock file again.
We met at his office, where the windows overlooked the harbor. I had been there before, but the view felt different now. Every crane and container seemed to belong to a transaction I did not understand.
His counsel opened the closing binder. The sale had been conducted through a holding company. The seller had disclosed that the dock was being acquired with a combination of commercial financing and private capital. The reserve was not named.
“Did you know the Whitmore foundation had any interest in the money?” I asked.
“No,” Dominic said. “The closing statement showed Harborline Services as a paying intermediary. My team asked what it was. We were told it was an administrative vendor.”
“Did you ask for proof?”
His expression was direct. “We should have.”
“Was there a reason you didn’t?”
“The seller was under a deadline. The property was strategically important.”
“Important to your company?”
“Yes. I’m not going to pretend otherwise.”
He did not hide the business reason behind a softer story. I respected that more than I wanted to.
His counsel said the company had paid the seller according to the contract and had never received funds from the reserve. But if the source of the seller’s payment was disputed, the closing documents might still matter.
“Can we trace every dollar to the seller?” Nora asked.
“We can provide our bank records,” Dominic’s counsel said. “We’re already preparing them for the accountant.”
Dominic stepped closer to the glass. “The dock supports three local businesses. If the acquisition is questioned, those employees could lose access.”
“I don’t want that.”
“I know. That’s why we’ll find a solution that protects the workers while the money is traced.”
I watched him turn toward the harbor. People often described him as dangerous. The power in the room was real, but so was the care he took not to use it to decide for me.
His counsel found a discrepancy in the closing file. The seller’s statement showed the purchase funds arriving in two payments. One was from Dominic’s company. The other came from a separate account connected to Harborline Services. That second payment had not appeared in the preliminary ledger.
“Was the source documented?” I asked.
“Not in this copy,” Nora said.
Dominic’s counsel searched a supplemental file. There was a wire confirmation, but the origin account had been partially redacted. The final four digits matched the reserve account.
No one spoke for several seconds.
“Does that mean my mother’s money paid for the dock?” I asked.
“It means a payment from an account connected to the reserve reached the seller,” the accountant said. “We need the full bank path before concluding anything more.”
Dominic sat down. “My company didn’t receive that payment.”
“But your seller did.”
“Yes.”
“Would you return it if the records show it was restricted?”
He looked at me. “If the money was not theirs to spend, the seller may have to return it. My company would protect the dock workers while the legal owners sort out the transaction.”
I had expected him to fight for his property. He was doing something more difficult: admitting that it might not be his to keep unchanged.
Before we left, his assistant brought in a sealed envelope. It had come from the seller’s former attorney, who was clearing old files after receiving the new review notice.
The envelope contained a handwritten closing instruction.
It said that the second payment should be accepted as a temporary bridge and held until “the beneficiary’s notice issue is resolved.”
At the bottom were two initials.
C.W.
Dominic studied the writing. “That could be your father.”
The date matched the week Anne’s allocation was crossed out.
The seller’s attorney had also written a name beside the initials.
May you like
Not Charles Whitmore.
Evelyn’s husband, who had been removed from the review team.
